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Download Download :::::: Deconstructing Ideas of Violence and Homophobia in Jamaica Sharifa Patel Sharifa Patel is currently a graduate student at McMaster University, pursuing her Masters in Gender Studies and Feminist Research. She completed her Bachelors degree at the University of Toronto with a major in Caribbean Studies and a minor in English and History. Homophobia in Jamaica is a topic of international debate. From internationally known dancehall artists who sing about murdering or threatening physical violence onto homosexuals, to the media images of the political violence that is played out on vulnerable bodies, the representation of Jamaica as a violent, homophobic space is continually reproduced and perpetuated both domestically and on a global level. Undoubtedly, violence and homophobia share a malevolent relationship in Jamaica and this paper does not seek to deny that reality. Instead this paper will interrogate this popular narrative and investigate Jamaica’s violent, homophobic history and how it has been reproduced. The organization of this paper is twofold: I will examine the historical roots of this issue in Jamaica, the proliferation and portrayal of this homophobic narrative on an international scale while also investigating how this violence is played out on the bodies of supposed sexual deviants. Jamaica is not a uniformly homophobic or violent place nor are these attributes innately part of Jamaican culture. These issues stem from a much deeper history of social, political and economic factors that the Jamaican citizenry must grapple with. Jamaicans continue to be denied the ability to create meaningful conversations with their government, and in order to cope with this issue of powerlessness the populations must turn to different means, including violence, to reclaim their political autonomy. Ideas of acceptable sexual practices cannot be divorced from the legacy of colonialism. Moreover, ideas regarding sexuality and its norms differ between time and place and thus, what is permissible in one space may not be so in another. For instance, since Jamaican history saw the mass migration (predominantly forced migration) of peoples from Africa, India, China, the Middle 117 SHARIIFA PATEL| VIOLENCE & HOMOPHOBIA IN JAMAICA East and Europe, sexual practices of their place of origin were complicated in a country with such a diverse population. The colonial administration, however, regulated sexuality through different arms of the state apparatus including law and the religious doctrine. The colonial ban on sodomy was not limited to same-sex intercourse but rather all non-procreative sexual activity was deemed evil and sinful.1 The nineteenth century colonial law, the Offenses Against the Person Act, stated under Unnatural Offenses and the section Outrages on Decency condemned anyone who engaged in buggery or committed “acts of gross indecency with another male” to imprisonment and hard labour.2 This law remains intact today prohibiting sexual relationships between same-sex individuals and there is no indication of its amendment.3 Colonial law serves as a strong influence for current homophobic sentiments in Jamaica and has remained embedded in these existing laws. To reduce homophobia and violence in Jamaica to simply a part of Jamaican culture disregards how foreign influences and laws have shaped the current circumstances of sexual deviants in Jamaica. The colonial government did not only use law to repress sexual deviants but also used religious infrastructure in order to manipulate enslaved peoples. The enslaved populations were often forced to accept Christian doctrine and forfeit their belief systems for Christ.4 If enslaved peoples were caught practicing a religion other than Christianity these bodies could be subjected to torture until they at least appeared to comply5 with the Church. While religions in the Caribbean remain syncretic and often serve as an instrument of resistance, in arguments against sexual deviance, the bible is 1 Suzanne LaFont. “Very Straight Sex: The Development of Sexual Morés in Jamaica” Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 2:3 2003 2Offences Against the Person Act. Jamaica. http://www.vertic.org/media/National%20Legislation/Jamaica/JM_Offences_ag ainst_the_Person_Act.pdf 3 Current Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller suggested during her campaign that the Buggery Laws should be revised and that she would allow homosexuals to serve in her cabinet. Since then the laws have remained further discussion on the topic has been limited. 4 Isaac Julien, The Darker Side of Black. 1993. 5 Many enslaved peoples participated in Christian religious practices while simultaneously practicing religions from their place of origin or developing religious hybridities that appropriated different aspects of different religions. 118 CARIBBEAN QUILT | 2013 constantly quoted.6 Sodom has become a key point of reference for those who wish to find a religious basis for assaults on sexually deviant communities.7 The word “sodomite” has become synonymous with homosexuality and we see that this word has continually been used to show contempt, scorn, and hatred throughout dancehall music.8 What is particularly interesting about dancehall music is the way in which it has glorified conservative sexuality (or heterosexuality), as it encourages sexual practices that defy modest conventions. Dancehall music graphically describes the act of sexual intercourse often including descriptions of the body and genitalia. This musical form then has completely rejected colonial regulations of sexuality as it pertains to heterosexual sexual relationships while simultaneously appropriating the colonial legacy of homophobia and violence. Violence in Jamaica cannot merely be dismissed as innately part of Jamaican culture. This type of analysis contributes to a racist continuum that places Jamaica in the ‘uncivilized’ Global South where violence can be written into the narrative of the country without reflection on how this violence has come into being and how it is reproduced. The western world has made the whole country of Jamaica into a crime scene; our television screens were plastered with images of Tivoli Gardens going up in flames when the United States extradited Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.9 Tivoli Gardens became Jamaica. It became a country ravaged by crime and violence; the international community saw populations that rallied in the streets to support a criminal. It is these types of images that repeat in western media without any recognition of how the bodies seen on our television screens are fodder for political warfare.10 The western media has given no airtime to the real situation in Jamaica. Garrison communities such as Tivoli Gardens are poverty ridden and they have been stripped of the ability to actively, and peacefully, participate in political processes.11 The governments, 6 Julien 7 Julien 8 See Beenie Man “That’s Right” and Mr. Vegas “No Sodomite” 9 CNN May 24, 2010 10 Tivoli Gardens was a JLP enclave and Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke had close ties with former Prime Minister Bruce Golding. Lewis 11 Obika, Gray. “Rogue Culture or Avatar of Liberation: The Jamaican Lumpenproletriat.” Social and Economic Studies, Vol. 52, No. 1 (March 2003) 119 SHARIIFA PATEL| VIOLENCE & HOMOPHOBIA IN JAMAICA in conjunction with dons in garrison enclaves, have turned these spaces into warzones and have broken their ability to create cohesive communities.12 Jamaican dons are well connected to the government and they are able to coerce and threaten their communities into going to war for their territories. Donald “Zeeks” Phipps, a don in Matthew’s Lane, is a good case in point. He had extensive political connections, including a half brother who is a parliamentarian representative in central Kingston.13 When he was arrested in 1997, his supporters shut down the city for two days.14 Our television screens do not include the history of these populations and how they have come to these circumstances. They do not include how the government has pushed its populations into these violent circumstances and used dons in these communities to carry out their control. Instead the western media homogenizes Jamaica as a uniformly violent space placing these violent images in countries that do not face the same realities. By using this medium Jamaica becomes the other of the west, a space that is poor, violent, and homophobic. Violence in Jamaica is real. There is no doubt that it has one of the highest murder rates per capita in the world.15 Indeed this violence is played out on the bodies of the most vulnerable in Jamaica making women, children and sexual deviants in working class communities most susceptible. The international community is very aware of Jamaica’s high homicide rates but the issue requires further interrogation as to how this situation emerged and why it continues to plague Jamaica’s youth. The revolving international dialogue insists that violence is a characteristic distinct to Jamaican society. This notion must be deconstructed and a more critical analysis of Jamaica’s current circumstances in conjunction with its colonial history must be called into question. It is true that we cannot reduce Jamaica’s current situation to solely a product of its history but we must examine how it cannot be detached from that history. Colonial rule in Jamaica ushered in spectacular violence and enslaved bodies became the site for sadistic brutality. The 12 Lewis 13 "The Americas: Bubba, Bobo, Zambo and Zeeks; Crime in the Caribbean;" The Economist
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